How to start and stop service in android.

Here we see how to start and stop a service dynamically.

What is Service ?

A service is a component which runs in the background without direct interaction with the user. As the service has no user interface, it is not bound to the lifecycle of an activity. 

As there are two methods by which we start and stop service  :

1. startService (Intent service)
2. stopService (Intent service)

In order to start a service we need to call a method name onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) and to stop a service call a method name onDestroy() . All this work we do in class which extends Service class.

Create a project with the following details :

·         ProjectName: StartStopServicee

·         PackageName: sat.tuts4mobile.startstop

·         ActivityName: MainActivity

In the MainActivity.java file, copy the following code :

package sat.tuts4mobile.startstop;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.app.Activity;

import android.content.Intent;

import android.view.Menu;

import android.view.View;

import android.widget.Button;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

            @Override

            protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

                        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

                        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

                        Button start = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);

                        start.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

                                    @Override

                                    public void onClick(View v) {

                                                // TODO Auto-generated method stub

                                                startService(new Intent(MainActivity.this, MyService.class));

                                    }

                        });

                        Button stop = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button2);

                        stop.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

                                    @Override

                                    public void onClick(View v) {

                                                // TODO Auto-generated method stub

                                                stopService(new Intent(MainActivity.this, MyService.class));

                                    }

                        });

            }

            @Override

            public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

                        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.

                        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

                        return true;

            }

}

Create a new class name MyService.java file, copy the following code :

package sat.tuts4mobile.startstop;

import android.app.Service;

import android.content.Intent;

import android.os.IBinder;

import android.widget.Toast;

public class MyService extends Service{

            @Override

            public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {

                        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

                        return null;

            }

           

    @Override

    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {

            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

           

                        Toast.makeText(MyService.this, "Service Started!!!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            return super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);

    }

   

    @Override

    public void onDestroy() {

            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

           

                        Toast.makeText(MyService.this, "Service Stoped!!!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            super.onDestroy();

    }

}

In the activity_main.xml file, copy the following code:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"

    android:layout_width="match_parent"

    android:layout_height="match_parent"

    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <Button

        android:id="@+id/button1"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"

        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"

        android:text="Start Service" />

    <Button

        android:id="@+id/button2"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="wrap_content"

        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/button1"

        android:layout_below="@+id/button1"

        android:layout_marginTop="20dp"

        android:text="Stop Service" />

</RelativeLayout>

In the AndroidMainfest.xml file, copy the following code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    package="sat.tuts4mobile.startstop"

    android:versionCode="1"

    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk

        android:minSdkVersion="8"

        android:targetSdkVersion="19" />

    <application

        android:allowBackup="false"

        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"

        android:label="@string/app_name"

        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >

        <activity

            android:name="sat.tuts4mobile.startstop.MainActivity"

            android:label="@string/app_name" >

            <intent-filter>

                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />

            </intent-filter>

        </activity>

       

        <service android:name="sat.tuts4mobile.startstop.MyService"></service>

       

    </application>

</manifest>

Click this to download source code

When you run the application , you see the following screens :